9 High-Tech Innovations That Will Change the Way We Recycle

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The Forever Cup

Those red plastic party cups you see almost everywhere have a serious flaw: They’re made of polystyrene, which is hardly ever recycled. The firm InCycle has an alternative: cups made out of the commonly recycled plastic PET. The opaque, lightweight cups are made of discarded soda bottles and can be turned back into more cups or new soda bottles.

(Photo: InCycle/Instagram)

Old Cotton Made New

Growing cotton takes a lot of water. Until now, when a cotton garment wears out, there’s been no easy method for reclaiming the fiber for new clothes. Scientists at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, working with Swedish textile firms, have found a way to turn worn-out cotton into rayon, resulting in the first-ever dress made from recycled cotton (shown here).

Old Tires Become New Car Batteries

Old tires can have a second life as components of cutting-edge batteries. A recent study showed that carbon from worn-out tires makes a highly efficient replacement for the graphite electrodes used in lithium ion batteries, such as those that power electric cars.

(Photo: Argonne National Laboratory/Flickr)

Shining a Light on Recycling

German researchers announced in August a method that might make sorting mixed recycled plastic a whole lot easier. By measuring the time it takes discarded plastics to stop glowing after a powerful strobe light hits them, the researchers say they can sort old bottles faster and far more accurately than sorting by hand, processing up to 1.5 tons per hour.

(Photo: RecycleHarmony/Flickr)

Wi-Fi Recycling

The Finnish firm Enevo has a new way to make collecting more efficient. The company’s small wireless sensors attach to recycling bins to continually monitor how much space they have left. Avoiding stops at half-empty bins saves money, burns less fuel, and lowers emissions. Enevo also offers software that plans the most efficient truck routes between bins ready for emptying.

(Photo: Enevo/Flickr)

Cigarettes to Supercapacitors

It’s not a good reason to keep smoking, but a study published in January found that the toxic cellulose acetate fibers in cigarette filters can be used to make supercapacitors—fast-charging electrical power storage devices that have the potential to replace some batteries. That could cut down on landfill and the use of toxic materials to make rechargeable batteries.

(Photo: Elena Tubaro/Flickr)

Turning Toxic Trash Into Solar Energy

Lead-acid batteries are a huge environmental problem, especially in the developing world, where recycling rates are low and many people rely on them for household power. In July, a team of MIT engineers reported a straightforward way to recover toxic lead from old batteries to make a new kind of solar cell. One battery can supply enough material to produce enough solar panels to power 30 houses.

(Photo: Basel Action Network/Flickr)

A Lightbulb Recycling Machine

So-called reverse vending machines that give you cash for your bottles and cans have been a thing for a few years. Now, people in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates can dispose of their used lightbulbs the same way, using machines that separate LEDs and compact fluorescents from incandescent bulbs. Built by U.K. firm reVend, the machines allow recyclers to remove and recycle the small quantities of mercury and other toxic substances found in fluorescents and some LEDs.

Want to Ace the Bus or Train? Follow the 10 Commandments of Transit

From reducing the amount of smog-spewing, traffic-clogging cars on the road to enabling commuters to relax and read a book, there are plenty of upsides to public transportation. But even the casual bus or subway rider has witnessed behavior by other riders that would cause Miss Manners to blush. That’s why designer Jez Burrows and his colleagues at Facebook’s Analog Research Laboratory have created the 10 Commandments of Transit. Click through for tips on how to be, as the creators put it, “a good human on public and private transport.”

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Recycling has come a long way since the “newsprint, bottles, and cans” era. Today all kinds of objects have the potential for reuse, from cotton dresses to cigarette butts.

At the same time, our wired world is changing how we collect and sort recyclables and what products those materials are recycled into.

Whether we're recycling commonplace materials like aluminum and cotton or rare metals and complicated synthetics, without the process, more of the energy, water, and other resources used to make them is wasted. With more of us throwing things away every day and the cost of many natural resources climbing, many of our discards can be a gold mine for industry.

Following are creative new approaches to getting the most from our natural resources.

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